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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-06-2013 11:51 PM

ACFishTank

Update

Well, the Pennywort hasn't taken off as I though it would. From what I read, this is an easy plant to grow so it left me a little perplexed. Then the other day I found the culprit... the emporer tetras chowing down on the roots coming from under the leaves. I pulled one of the stems the other day and did notice that they are rooting, so maybe they'll survive.

Saturday I added ludwigia to the back center. I have always admired the structure of the plant and it seems to be adapting well considering its only been in the tank for about 24 hours. I'm hoping it holds the red hues under mid lighting.

Finally I added a school of cardinal tetras to the tank. They've colored up well and all are eating already. I can watch them all day. I also added a panda garra to the tank. I can't recommend this fish enough. It has great color, eat algae, and eats any food that gets to the substrate. Today it was cleaning my hand as I pulled a couple leaves out the tank. It's not shy.

I'm still adjusting the Excel doing. Yesterday I upped the dose to 2.5mL and things seemed to perk up. Maybe its me.. I'll try it for a few days and see how things go.

Here's a picture of the tank right now:

I'm going to let things fill in for the next couple of weeks and see how things go. Any and all comments are welcome!

Mike

12-30-2012 01:40 PM

ACFishTank

Update

I added some brazilian pennywort to the center mid ground. I've always liked the look of this plant and was finally able to find some decent cuttings at the LFS.

The rotala indica is finally settling in and growing nicely. It looks like I'll have my first trim this week! I'm excited for it to fill in and hoping to create a downward slope from the back corners towards the center of the tank.

I'm interested to know how other care for the narrow leaf chain swords. Is it normal for the older leaves to brown and need to be trimmed? The new growth is great and new plants are sprouting daily, so I can only assume they are doing well. Maybe I'll post that under the 'plants' section.

i have a hard time with ottos too. i had 5 or 6.. and all but 1 or 2 have died. i think they are really sensitive. my harlequin rasboras and neons are doing great and have been in my tank since July.

Yeah, it's unfortunate. They are a bit sensitive to begin with and really don't ship well either. I had a couple in my 30 gallon back a few years ago that did fine. I guess its part luck with them.

I did get a panda garra and going to give that a shot. They are more incline to eat flake and pellet, so it might be a good fit.

12-28-2012 07:34 PM

ramen lover

i have a hard time with ottos too. i had 5 or 6.. and all but 1 or 2 have died. i think they are really sensitive. my harlequin rasboras and neons are doing great and have been in my tank since July.

12-28-2012 05:51 PM

m00se

Feel like jumping from the frying pan into the fire eh? LOL....many plecos need roughage in their diet almost constantly, usually in the form of driftwood.. Again, you should hold off on adding any suckerfish to your tank that you can't guarantee is eating by observation. Cory cats would be a good choice if you like them. Plecos will also eat zucchini and cukes, but I would wait personally.

I don't root feed the limnophilas. They seem to do fine with column feeding. I feed swords and anubias with home made Osmocote Plus caps.

Should I be worried about the low Kh? pH seems to be stable so I'm apprehensive to mess with things too much.

Last weekend I purchased Limnophila aromatica for the back corners of the tank. So far, they seem to be hanging in there, though I noted that the bottom leaves looked a bit translucent. Right now, I'm chalking that up to the fact that they were bundled and without roots when I got them. I pulled one up today and did note that some small roots are started, so I'm just going to let them be for now. Anyone with recommendations is welcomed!

I finally took out that manzanita branch. It kept molding and to be honest, I got tired of cleaning the thing off every other day and disturbing the tank and plants. Today I will be buying some bronze or red wendtii to fill in the middle space.

In unfortunate news, I lost my oto. I just couldn't get it to eat anything, including the zucchini. Thanks M00se for your help!

Anyhow, here's a current picture of the tank. The rotala is starting to fill in nicely and I think in the next month things will start to look a little for lush.

Thanks for looking!
Mike

12-21-2012 06:30 PM

m00se

I cut a whole zuch lengthwise all the way end to end. Then I de-seed it with the tip of a spoon. I leave the skin on (they'll nibble it too). I cut about 3-4" length of it and store the rest in a Glad container. Use aquarium store-size (haha you know where they came from) rubber bands to attach it to a piece of rigid airline tubing about 24" long so I can move it around where I think it's the easiest for them to get to. I make 2 slits in the zuch where the rubber bands cross it so that they aren't "in the way" when the otos feed. I hope that makes sense. The bands are below flush of the area they eat.

I have left them in the tank for 3 days before, but usually after 2 they're pretty much demolished. It takes one day just to allow it to waterlog and get soft.

What are you feeding your otos? If you aren't supplementing that algae then I would recommend it. Tank as new as yours doesn't really have enough slime/algae built up yet. De-seeded zucchini was a favorite of mine. Never blanched it or anything.

I've been trying to get the otocinclus to eat Omega One veggie rounds but without luck so far. Seems interested, but never goes for it. I'll try to zucchini tonight and see if that helps. How long do you leave it in for?

12-21-2012 12:32 PM

m00se

What are you feeding your otos? If you aren't supplementing that algae then I would recommend it. Tank as new as yours doesn't really have enough slime/algae built up yet. De-seeded zucchini was a favorite of mine. Never blanched it or anything.

12-21-2012 11:55 AM

ACFishTank

Picked up some Limnophila hippuroides yesterday at the lfs. This stuff is awesome looking. I just hope that it grows well in my tank. It needs some time to straighten out and root itself. Fingers crossed.

Also got a couple of Amano shrimp. So far they are going well and none of the fish are messing with them. I think it helps that they're a lot bigger than the Sakuras.

Anyone have input on dosing and low Kh? I noted a couple crypts has yellow leaves. Could be that they are still settling in, but I would have figured this would have presented itself a few weeks ago if that was the case.

I did a water change yesterday and dosed ferts after, so I'll see how things are looking today.

12-20-2012 05:06 PM

ACFishTank

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Tested the tank yesterday and noted that my Kh is about 17ppm.. pretty low. Would this cause any issues? Recently the rotala is looking a little dull, so I think I think need to increase dosing.

Here's the full results:

pH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20 ppm
GH 107 ppm
Kh 17 ppm

For the past few weeks I've been dosing 1mL twice a week of Flourish Comprehensive. I'm thinking of upping that to 1.5mL twice a week instead. Should I also include other ferts?

In the meantime, I've cleared some room in the back right and left corners for another stem plant variety. I'll see if there is anything good at the LFS. Chain swords are sending out runners like crazy. Already have three little guys sprouting up!

Mike

12-19-2012 07:19 PM

dougolasjr

It looks very nice.

12-19-2012 05:26 PM

pweifan

I think it looks nice and healthy so far. More plants will help once they fill in. Keep it up

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